Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Hunt and Capture of German Submarine U-505” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/hunt-and-capture-of-german-submarine-u-505/.
Hunt and Capture of German Submarine U-505
- Thread starter Mike H.
- Start date
I toured the U505 decades ago when I was a kid and my folks took me to Chicago. Even as a young boy I was amazed at how my it is inside. Truly a different breed of men than today’s pups. And the cajones it took to board a sinking and scuttled ship you know nothing about, close the valves, disarm the timed scuttling charges while securing documents and equipment, all the time knowlingit could go to the bottom at anytime taking you with it. Those were MEN!
Sld1959
Ronin
My dad, in WWII, always said he was half the man his father was, wounded three times in WWI, and i have always felt i am probably half the man my father was. As to this generation I suppose they will have to decide where they stand on that scale by looking in thier own mirror as the get older.
artmerkle57
Alpha
As a kid, my dad took me to see the U505. The sub was kept outside at the museum. Fall of 2023 we traveled to Chicago and returned to the museum to see the sub. Lo and behold, the sub was restored and moved inside and protected from the elements. The display was an authentic re-creation of a Nazi submarine pen. You have to go see it to appreciate what the museum has done to improve this piece of history!
Fantastic photos!
Icepick Mike
Operator
HAHAHA! Stick to your guns! Resolve is a good thing.
Boxlock
Alpha
Thanks! Thank you for the photos!
Icepick Mike
Operator
Like many posts I saw this sub and did the interior tour of the vessel as a kid. Even then I was amazed at how small the interior living quarters were, short 'hot' bunks and all. But it was outside when I saw it. I grew up in Chicago and would visit the Museum of Science and Industry often as a kid. It was a really cool place that fascinated me! Left Chi Town in 65 for the Army and never went back except for a funeral. Use to be a great city.
Cliff Lancaste
Alpha
I was stationed in Nuremburg Germany in the early 80's.
One night I was sitting in a Gasthaus drinking a beer and met a man who was a crewmember on the U-505.
He had some interesting stories about his time in service and how he was treated as a POW in the U.S.
He said he was treated better as a POW than as a sailor.
One night I was sitting in a Gasthaus drinking a beer and met a man who was a crewmember on the U-505.
He had some interesting stories about his time in service and how he was treated as a POW in the U.S.
He said he was treated better as a POW than as a sailor.
I was born and raised in West Monroe, LA, which had a WWII POW camp during the war (which became the Ouachita parish fairgrounds by the time I was growing up). I lived in Ruston for a couple of years when I was 20 - I had no idea there had been a large POW camp there during the war. I wonder where around Ruston it had been located? Great story about U-505!
I'm not a naval expert but the photos of the FORWARD torpedo tubes say that the Port side tubes were "Odd" numbered and the Forward Even numbered tubes were on the Starboard side. One of you Navy guys please help me understand if I am misreading the photo wording. Just seems the Forward tubes on the left or Starboard side are EVEN numbered, etc. Maybe I'm confused? Thanks to the person who donated the photos. I would love to see 505 someday but I'm not too crazy on returning there. If I could work an in and out same day trip I'd do that but then I'd want to go to visit the Art Museum again. Its amazing. Our Soldiers (land and air), Marines and Sailors were incredibly brave and tough men.
the photo of the forward tubes show the Port tubes as being Odd numbered and the Starboard tubes being even numbered. I first thought they had the photo flipped but the writing is positioned s it would be top to bottom, Nicknames of the tubes with names starting on the left. I think the description is just backwards. Am I missing something?
Dave, Camp Ruston later became Ruston State School. The facility was located about 5 miles west of Ruston, near Simsboro. RSS was one of a number of schools for developmentally challenged students run by the state. The school was closed 10-15 years ago. It’s my understanding the campus was made part of Grambling State University. I haven’t been by the school in a few years but I think the property is pretty much abandoned. Even before the school closed there was little, if any, remaining evidence that the facility had been a POW camp. Beautiful piney hills, like much of north Louisiana.
MN.Militia
Elite
Same here - I grew up in Gary IN, only 35 minutes from the museum via the Indiana Toll Road & Chicago Skyway. I'd visited countless times throughout the 70's, 80's, & early 90's. I never visited the museum without hitting the U505 exhibit!
MN.Militia
Elite
Me too, on all accounts. The People's Soviet Socialist Republic of Illinoistan will never be graced by my shadow ever again. I had enough visits to the exhibit before it was moved indoors, that will suffice. However, I find the all-interior exhibit visually stunning just from the photos!
As a full-time, post-retirement 2A activist I pray we succeed in bringing ALL 50 STATES under full Constitutional carry before the U-505's 100th birthday!
MN.Militia
Elite
I was an Army reserve MP, spent almost all my time at (then) Camp Atterbury south of Indianapolis. The base had a small WW2 POW camp composed mostly of Germans but some Italians too. The POW chapel still stands. I believe it's part of Brown County's parks system now, because after successive BRAC closures, Atterbury & Ft. Benjamin Harrison no longer exist.
MN.Militia
Elite
No, you're not confused. I've been on the sub so many times I can recite it in my sleep. Port/Left, Starboard/Right. The photo is flipped, and though I'm no photo expert, I do believe it's been "re-touched".